So, as Andrew mentioned in the other thread, I had some ideas on a cheat sheet. Moldof has a cheat sheet (I've not seen it? not sure how i missed it!). Beth mentioned the need for a summary, and I concur with her. The layout in the core book can be daunting to folks - one of the big reasons I like Denizens is that it fills in a lot of info that I would have liked in the core book, and the layout is improved IMO.

So, starting this thread to put in some ideas, and things that my players say that confuse them

1) difference between out of combat powers and passives. Do you lose passives when you lose the rune that it is bound to into the wounds pile? I'm say no, because they are always on, but out of combat actives go away because you can't wyrd the rune. Generally, active/passive/skills difference in succinct fashion.

2) stacking rules and things like shapeshifting. How many times have we heard (and asked!) questions about blood-wolf form? How many stacking questions have been asked? I lost count. a strong clarification of "these things stack, these things don't" would be good.

3) selection of powers and skills - the boards are big and dense. they provide an incredible amount of flexibility. However, that comes at the price of understanding and analysis paralysis. almost all of my players have stared at the board and tried to pick "the best" powers. I think the mechanics (horizontal and vertical) are just fine, but the information is very dense. Perhaps a couple of example power sets and what they might represent would help. Like...Healing Skald active powers - Apples of Idun, Arcane Shield, Evasive Manoeuvre, Ode to Vanagard

4) Not within the scope of a cheat sheet, but I'm tempted to make a D&D-style iconic party, but using FotN characters. One sceadugean, one maiden, one seithkona, one galdr for your traditional rogue/fighter/wizard/cleric style roles.

5) One thing that helped my players was asking them what they liked to play, then pointing them to classes that did that well. For example, I have one guy who loves to play tanks. So I pointed him to the maiden, even though he went for the stalo first. He ended up having trouble with the stalo's setup. I have another player who really likes the imagery of a knight - him I pointed at the stalo with an ancestral weapon. I've got another guy who plays everything, but can't stop himself from being social - he's almost certainly going to try a skald.

6) some generally recommended stuff might be good, or at least how the boards are flavored. The big one here that comes to mind is the Stalo, who does not work very well if you are not willing to do your active and your passives in different "directions". The zerk can get himself into a place with not enough rage being generated, etc.

7) a special callout for generic actions. The core book has attack, move, defend, etc all special with their own headers. The note that "drawing a weapon is a rune" is buried in the Quick Draw passive it would be nice to have it called out up front and center that Generic actions are all over.

As Beth alluded to, it's not really that hard mechanically, but it is really alien to folks who come from a different background.

Andrew has given the OK on spreading this far and wide. So, please, feel free to do so.

I built this with two design parameters, which I have for all such projects. First, it has to fit on one page. Front and back is ok, but no more than one sheet. Second, it's purpose is to summarize the most core mechanics. This helps keep it as simple and un-intimidating as possible. With FotN:R this was a little harder to do. I had to make some decisions about what could be considered the most core fundamentals of the RGS. Things like metas and alkas didn't make it. They are obviously core aspects of the game, but I felt a separate sheet for these would be better. One that would allow the kind of explanations that might be necessary in teaching them.

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